Locals claim statewide weight-loss crowns

Monday

For much of her life, Amelia Thibodaux was focused on taking care of her family.

Over the past year, she was finally able to shift the focus back to herself and her own health. She weighed 228 pounds and had an array of heart issues.

Thibodaux, nicknamed "Peanut," joined the local Take Off Pounds Sensibly, or TOPS, club at the urging of her sister, who had been crowned the state queen of the weight-loss program in 2018.

Now, she’s down 58.2 pounds and was just crowned Louisiana’s TOPS queen for 2019.

“I make sure I put myself first now,” she said.

The national organization has local chapters across the country. Each year, people who meet their weight-loss goals are honored, and those with the largest losses in each state become the king and queen.

Harris Allemend, the 2019 Louisiana TOPS king, lost 51.2 pounds to earn the crown. Since then, the Houma resident said he’s probably lost another seven pounds. He dropped from 246 pounds to 195.

Neither Thibodaux nor Allemend was expecting the honor.

“I knew I was losing weight but becoming king wasn’t on my mind at the time,” Allemend said.

Thanks to her sister’s win the previous year, Thibodaux was crowned by her sister.

Not one to seek out the limelight, Thibodaux said, “It was a shock.”

When the TOPS coordinator told Thibodaux that she’d won, the coordinator gave her the option of not accepting the queenship if it would make her too uncomfortable.

“But she said, ‘Peanut, it’s an honor,’” said Thibodaux.

During the ceremony, Thibodaux said, she was visibly nervous.

“I had my flowers going like this,” she said, shaking an imaginary bouquet in her hands.

As the state king and queen, Thibodaux and Allemend will travel to different TOPS chapter meetings and rallies to speak about their own weight loss journey over the next year. They’ll also attend a conference in Portland, Oregon, in the next few weeks.

Thibodaux tries to focus her message on encouraging people to take care of themselves first. Allemend said he wants people to know they have to stick to their plan to reach their goals.

“You can’t do it three days out of the week and on the other day splurge,” said Allemend. “Put your mind to it, stick with it, and it will work for you.”

Allemend said he started by cutting out soda and slowly began to add more things each week to avoid eating.

“I’m a sweets person. I love my sweets, but you learn how to do it,” he said.

Before participating in the TOPS program, he said, he didn’t remember ever eating stir-fried or steamed vegetables.

“You just learn to eat better,” he said.

Now, the focus for both Thibodaux and Allemend is to keep the weight off. They both try to walk a few miles a day and work within meal plans.

Thibodaux encouraged anyone interested in learning more about TOPS to look for their local chapter on the club’s website, tops.org/tops/TOPS/FindAMeeting.aspx.